Author’s notes and warnings:  This chapter was faster to write…maybe I’m getting the hang of it.  I would like to thank Dyna, Angellove, Diane, and Rocky for taking the time to review.  Arigatou, no da!  I’m very glad that you liked it; it’s very encouraging. 

Originally I had planned to end the story with this chapter but it didn’t want to end.  So…I will have to add one more chapter.  I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Lemon in the next chapter…I just haven’t decided which couple gets the privilege.  Hmm…maybe you could help me decide?

Disclaimers:  Please don’t sue me…I do not own them.

Irreplaceable – Part Two

By Moonraven

“I can’t wear THAT!”  Quatre squeaked as Duo pulled out a pair of black leather pants 3 sizes too small.  “It’ll…split or…something.” 

“It stretches, Quat!  You’ll look so fucking hot he’ll drool so hard we’ll have to provide buckets.”  Duo giggled and pulled out a pale pink crop top that would sure to show off quite a bit of flesh.  Quatre paled and swallowed hard. 

“Ha!”  Duo draped the top across Quatre’s torso and examined the young man appraisingly.  “One look at you, my friend, Trowa will drop this snotty Peter so fast---”

“Duo?”  Heero’s voice cut in the middle of his sentence.  “What are you doing?”

Duo winced mentally and grimaced at Quatre.  He didn’t expect his lover to return from picking up Wufei so soon.

“Hee-chan.”  He whirled to face Heero.  “You’re back.”  He ran to his lover and planted a wet kiss on his lips.

“What are you doing?”  Heero was not side tracked.  He held his lover at arm’s length and looked intently into those violet orbs.

“I’m trying to convince Q-man here to try on some of my clothes.”  He told Heero innocently.

“Why?”  <Eyes narrowed suspiciously>

“What da ya mean ‘why’?”  <Batting eyes innocently>

“Duo…”   <Eyes narrowed some more, not buying the innocent look> Hey, we’re talking Duo, here.

“It’s my fault, Heero.”  Quatre spoke up suddenly.  “I wanted…er…something different for my eighteenth birthday, so Duo was just…helping.”  His cheeks were bright red as he waited to see if Heero would believe him.  It WAS partially the truth.

Heero studied Quatre a moment longer before he nodded.  He turned to Duo who was smiling beguilingly at him.   “Just not the fish-net thing, okay?  We don’t want half the people at the party to jump him now, do we?”

Duo giggled.  “No we don’t.  We only want Trowa to jump him.”

“DUO!”  Both Heero and Quatre shouted simultaneously.

~~~oO)@(Oo~~~      ~~~oO)@(Oo~~~

Wufei stepped out of the shower and toweled himself dry.  It had been a long day and he was glad to have finally gotten rid of the ‘onna’.  Working with her was bad enough, he had to travel half way across the universe sitting next to her, listening to her yap about how exciting it was to finally see everyone again!  Women!

He wrapped a towel around his waist and was about to leave when a noise from the adjoining room drew his attention.  He turned a frowning face to the door leading to the other room when it flung opened and Sally walked in.  They both froze on the spot. 

“Wu…fei…”  Sally murmured as she stared unabashed at the lean muscular young man in front of her.  My, how he’d grown.  My, my…

“ONNA!”  Wufei practically screeched as he grabbed another towel and covered his bare torso.  “What are you doing in my bathroom?”

“OUR bathroom, Wufei.”  Sally hid a smile behind her hand as she answered him.  “I AM sorry for coming in here without knocking, but I didn’t know anyone was in here.”  She would have to thank Quatre later for putting her in this room.  For now…she’ll just have to make the most of it.

Wufei was sputtering in outrage at the injustice of it all and had a hard time holding on to his multiple towels.

“Here, let me help you with that.”  Sally moved further into the room and made a move to ‘help’ him with his towels.

Wufei squawked indignantly as he jumped away and nearly lost the towel around his waist. 

Sally had a hard time keeping a straight face but she knew that Wufei would really be offended had she laughed at him.  She smiled indulgently and shook her head.

“Wufei.  I’m a doctor, you know.  I’ve also checked you out before, when you first joined Preventers.  Why so shy now?”  Oops.  Did she actually say ‘checked him out’?  ‘Yes, well I guessed I did.’  Sally thought as she recalled her early attraction to the youth.  She never did anything about it because he was too young…but now that he’s eighteen, and looking very much like a tan Greek God…

Sally smacked herself mentally and tried rather unsuccessfully to get her mind out of the gutter.

“What on earth are you doing, sharing my bathroom?”  Wufei was still struggling with the accursed towels.  Why was he the bumbling idiot all of a sudden?

Sally shrugged and went to put her toiletries on the counter.  “Maybe they thought that since you’re my partner, you wouldn’t want to be too far from me?”  She turned and gave him one of her brilliant smiles.

Wufei caught his breath.  He hated it when she did that.  It made him weak in the knees and he couldn’t understand why.  She was just an annoying onna, and the strange sensation that she could invoke in him was just irritation…wasn’t it?

“Wufei, I’m just joking.  You can close your mouth now.”

Wufei clamped his mouth shut.  He wasn’t about to tell her that it was her smile and not her words that had gotten him so worked up.

Sally looked him up and down pointedly before settling on his blushing face.

“As much as I like the view…”

Wufei narrowed his eyes at her before whirling on his heels and left her staring after his bare back.

“And what a view it was…”  Sally mumbled wistfully and went back to storing her things.

~~~oO)@(Oo~~~      ~~~oO)@(Oo~~~

“If it was nothing, then why can’t I go with you?”  Peter’s voice was carefully controlled but Trowa knew that his lover was upset.  As he should be.  Damn Duo.

“We’ll just be talking about war thing…I’ll be back before you know it.”  Trowa said calmly without pausing from his packing.  He didn’t have much to pack but he dragged the process out a bit.  He didn’t want to deal with Peter just now.

“You want to be with HIM.”  Peter said softly from his position by the doorway.  “That braided guy insinuated that that you chose me as a lover because I look like HIM.”  There was a hint of bitterness in Peter’s voice.

Trowa sighed and pulled the drawstring on his duffle bag.  He turned to his lover slowly and gave him a small reassuring smile.

“We went over this the other night.  Just because I like guys with blond hair and blue eyes doesn’t mean I sleep with ALL of them.”  He walked to Peter and pulled the other man into his arms.  “Quatre and I were never like that.  We were just friends.  Besides, he’s too…innocent, too pure.  I told you that and that’s the truth.”

Peter looked up at the taller man uncertainly.  “You’re ashamed of me.”  He tried another tactic.

Trowa frowned.  “I’m not.”

“I don’t know any of your friends.  It’s like I don’t exist.”

Trowa’s frown deepened.  “What are you talking about?  Everyone at the circus knows you.”

“But not your war buddies.”

“I don’t socialized with them anyways, so what does it matter?”

Peter sighed in exasperation.  “They are the ones that mattered the most!”  He gripped Trowa’s collar and stared into the one visible emerald eye.  “You trusted them with you life.  You trusted them with everyone’s life.  You went through things together, things that I could only imagine!”  Peter shook Trowa gently.  “THEY are to you what nobody else could be.  Even me.”

Trowa disengaged himself gently and turned away.

“That’s all in the past.  You worry too much.”  He picked up his bag and turned back to the door.  “I will return in 2 days tops.  Wait here.”  He bent to kiss the pouting lips lingeringly.  “Quatre means nothing to me.”  He reassured Peter as he walked towards the door.

“We’ll see about that.”  Peter said to the closed door before he turned to the videophone and pulled up old conversations.  He smiled without humor when he found the one he wanted.  It was the one where Duo was giving the location of the party to Trowa…

~~~oO)@(Oo~~~      ~~~oO)@(Oo~~~

“Winner, if you don’t stop wiggling like that, people will get the wrong idea.”  Wufei growled in exasperation behind him.

“You’re pulling it too tight, Wufei.”  Quatre complained as he tried to peer over his shoulder at his friend.

“You were complaining that it felt like it would fall off, I’m making sure that it won’t.”  Wufei retorted gruffly.  “Whatever possessed you to listen to Duo anyway?”

Quatre gasped as Wufei gave the strings a final tug.  “I’m tired of being…boring little me.  I just want to have fun for a change.”  Quatre straightened and moved around, testing the feel.  “Thanks Wufei.  It feels much better now.” 

Wufei looked at his friend critically.  Quatre was decked out in a pair of black leather pants that rode very low on his hips and clung to him like it was poured on.  In the back of the said pants were series of crissed-crossing strings that as far as Wufei was concern, served no purpose; they just bounced around on his friend’s rear, drawing unnecessary attention.  The flowing cream poet shirt that Quatre chose to top the outfit with was just as questionable.  Wasn’t there suppose to be more material in a shirt?  Sure the sleeves were long and gathered delicately at the wrists, but what’s with the little bow thingy that tied the shirt up around the blonde’s midriff?  He frowned and shook his head.

“Couldn’t you at least pick from Heero’s wardrobe?”

Quatre quirked an amused brow at his Chinese friend.  “You’ve got to be joking.  I said FUN, Wufei, not uptight!”  Quatre frowned suddenly and looked nervous.  “Why?  Do I look really bad or something?”

Wufei looked Quatre over again from the top of his blond head down to the tip of his black leather boots.  “Or something.”

Quatre swallowed and bit his lips.  “What…something?”

“Don’t worry, Winner, you look…good.  It’s just not like you, that’s all.”  Wufei looked away feeling slightly uncomfortable.

“What is it, Wufei?”  He asked gently.  “Stoic expressions don’t hide much from this heart of mine.”

Wufei turned back to his friend and sorted out his thoughts before replying.

“If you’re doing this for Barton, I don’t think he’ll approve.”

Quatre gasped and put a hand to his throat.  “W-what make you…think that?”  He said breathlessly.

“Think what?  That you’re doing this for Barton or that he wouldn’t approve?”

“Both.”  Quatre whispered.

Wufei studied the small blond thoughtfully.  He hadn’t changed much since they had first met.  Quatre had grown a few inches taller but he was still smaller than the rest of the pilots.  His shoulders were slightly broader and regular workout schedules had kept him fit and lean.  But Quatre was still Quatre.  He maintained that air of innocence and gentleness that was Quatre alone.  The innocence that was symbolically what they had all worked so hard to protect.  Wufei wondered if it was the thing that had kept Trowa at arms length throughout the war and if it was what drove the tall pilot away in the end.  Wufei sighed and gave Quatre a smile.  Yes, he could see why changing the angelic image would be so important to the small blond.

“We all know about your feelings for Barton.  It didn’t interfere with any missions so I didn’t think it was necessary to mention it.  As for his feelings…I think that he liked you fine the way you were…are.”

Quatre made a very un-Quatre-like snorting sound.  “Yes.  He liked me so much he left without a backwards glance.  Then he avoided me like a plague for over six months.”  Quatre looked down at his wringing hands.  “You think I’m pathetic and weak.”

Wufei shifted uncomfortably on his feet but remained silent.  Quatre was not weak.  During the war he had fought bravely and after the chaos, he had taken over his family’s corporation and ran that as well as organized many charities for war victims and go on missions for Preventers when he could.  Quatre was in fact one of the strongest person Wufei had ever known.  Looking at what he was doing now to win the love of another man attested to the fact as well.

“Your methods may not have been mine, but I do not think that you are weak.”  Wufei finally voiced his thoughts.  “Barton was a fool.”

Quatre looked up in surprise then gave Wufei a grateful smile.  “Wufei…thank you.”

Wufei nodded his acknowledgement and before he could reply, Duo Maxwell skidded to a halt next to them, panting hard.

“Quat!  Where the hell’ve you been?  HE’S Here!  And he’s ALONE!”  He was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

Quatre covered his mouth with both hands and eeped behind them.  His eyes were wide with fright and looked back and forth between Duo and Wufei.  “AllahAllahAllahAllahAllah…” Could be heard even though it was muffled by his hands.

“C’mon!”  Duo dragged Quatre by the hand as he went back the way he came.  “You have to greet your guests!  Oh, and Wufei, I think Sally is looking for you, man.  Something about a dance partner?”  He told Wufei without turning and chuckled merrily as Wufei spouted obscenities.

They arrived at the landing by the front door and found no one but Habib, one of the servants.   Quatre panted behind his friend and pulled his hand free.  “Duo!”

“Where the hell did he go?”  Duo looked around impatiently.

“Master Trowa went to his room, master Duo.  He said that he would be down shortly.”

“Perfect!”  Duo whirled around to his flushed friend and nudged the blond up the main staircase.

“Wha---Duo!  What are you doing?”  Quatre hissed under his breath as Duo pushed him ahead.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Duo…I don’t think this is a good idea…”  Quatre tried to turn around and go back down the stairs but his braided friend had a firm grip on his shoulders.

“Ah-ah-ah, Quatre my boy!  No chickening out for you.  I’m not leaving your side until you are right in front of Trowa.”  Duo was well aware of which room belonged to whom.  He had gone over the arrangement with Quatre several times.  Trowa was put in the room opposite Quatre’s.  To avoid suspicion and change of rooms requests, guests were told that the east and west wings of the resort were closed for…renovation and that they only have limited rooms to work with.  Duo thought that was brilliant, Quatre thought it was nerve wrecking and Heero had no idea what the other two were doing.

When they had finally gotten to Trowa’s door, Quatre was so nervous he was flushed and stuttering almost incoherently.  Duo knocked on the door and was about to bolt when he saw that Quatre was about to puke.

Shit!

He grabbed the blond and pushed him towards the door to Quatre’s own room.  The blond hastily open it and the two rushed in, slamming the door shut.  Quatre ran to the bathroom while Duo banged his head gently against the closed door.  This was so not cool!

On the other side of the closed door…

Trowa stood in the middle of the empty hallway with his hands on his hips, surveying up and down the corridor.  He quirked an eyebrow and pursed his lips, wasn’t that a knock he heard?  He shrugged and went back into his room.  Oh well, he must have been more tired than he thought.

Back in Quatre’s room…

“Quatre, Quatre, Quatre, what am I gonna do with you?”  Duo talked to the closed bathroom door.  Sounds of running water and cabinets opening and closing could be heard.  A few minutes later, a very pale and damp Quatre emerged.

Duo quirked an eyebrow.  “Man, the wet look is totally sexy on you!  And in THAT outfit!  Damn, Quat, I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Quatre frowned in confusion.  Sexy?  Him?  “I can’t do it, Duo.  What if I throw up on him?  I could never face him again!”  Quatre wailed and buried his face in his pillow.

“You are way too nervous, Quat.”  He smoothed back his friend’s hair soothingly.  “You need to relax, man.  Stay here a bit and don’t move.  I’ll be right back.”  Duo bounced on his feet and left the room.

Quatre sighed into the pillow and berated himself for not having a nerve of steel.  What would Trowa want with a baby like him?  Quatre was convinced that Wufei was wrong…he WAS weak.

Duo returned a few minutes later with a cup of what appeared to be apple juice.  Quatre got up and reached for it gratefully.

“Thank you, Duo.  That…um…incident had left me quite thirsty.”  He took the cup with a weak smile and down the content hastily…then choked and coughed violently when his throat found out that it was not apple juice but something much stronger.

“Duo!”  He managed when he’s got his wind back.  “What on earth is this?”  He held up the empty cup and looked at it suspiciously.

“Heh, heh, sorry, man.  You took the cup so fast I didn’t have time to tell you.”  Yeah, sure, whatever it takes…  “I just added a little rum to your apple juice.  No biggie!”

Quatre’s eyes widen in shock.  “DUO!  I can’t drink!”

“Sure you can.  You just did.”  Duo smiled reassuringly.  “I just put a little bit in.  Just enough for you to relax.”  He took the cup from the frozen Quatre and put it on the nightstand.  “You don’t want to puke on Trowa, do you?”  He came to sit next to the blond.

“No, I guess not.”  Quatre looked down at his hands in his lap in remorse.  “I can’t believe I did that.”

“Nerves.”  Duo patted his friend on the back in sympathy.  “Don’t worry about it.” 

After a few minutes of silence, Duo peered at his friend closely, then he noticed that color had already come back to Quatre’s cheeks.  “Ready to try again?”

Quatre looked up at his friend with a tremulous smile, his eye shining brightly, his cheeks flushed pink.  He nodded vigorously, “I can hardly wait.”  The blond said dreamily.

Uh-oh.  When Quatre said he couldn’t drink, he really meant he couldn’t drink…at all.

The small blond got off the bed with some enthusiasm and pulled Duo up with him.  “Let’s go get my Trowa.”  Quatre covered his mouth with one hand and giggled.  “He wouldn’t know what hit him.”

Duo cringed.  A drunk Quatre could be pretty scary.  Especially when he had a target.

Tbc…

@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @

Woo hoo!  Another chapter completed!  Man, I didn’t think this chapter would be so long…in fact I didn’t think this whole story would be so long.  And no angst yet!  That’s a record for me!

Anyways, please let me know what you think and which couple should get the lemon!  Reviews are just a mouse click away…